Even before I paid attention to the sinful nature of jealousy, I was never able to understand it. I can honestly say that I’ve never been jealous of anyone in my life. It’s not that I think that I’m all that, nor is it that I’m incredibly virtuous. It’s just that the emotion always seemed to be an exercise in pointlessness. Heck, there will always be someone more attractive, smarter, nicer (definitely), richer, etc. than I am. What good does it do me to hate them for it? (Yes, indeed; it’s all about the pay-off for me, baby.) If I hate them or do them harm, how does that increase my attractiveness, intelligence, niceness or money?
Some guy suggested to me that I should be jealous of friend of mine. A few years younger than I am, she’s still in the Reserves and is a Chief Master Sergeant (E-9). She also has a wonderful husband and four beautiful, well-behaved children (yes, there still are some). When the guy mentioned this, I looked at him quizzically and asked him why I should feel this way. (Jealousy is all about feeling and truly not about thinking.) After all, if the things that my friend found important enough to work to acquire were important to me, I would have had them too, long ago. Believe it.
Set in the context of Christianity, why should anyone begrudge another his/her blessings? IMO, the ugly and irrational emotion of jealousy blinds a person to his/her own blessings. I’m very thankful that this particular demon is not one I have to fight against. The others create big enough battles as it is.
